Obituaries

Juanita Irene Mooney, age 84 of Ithaca, went to be with her Lord and Savior on Friday (February 5, 2010) at Hospicare. Mrs. Mooney was born in Genoa, the daughter of the late Frances Wood. Mrs. Mooney was an avid BINGO player and she enjoyed going to the casino with her children when she was active. She enjoyed knitting and crocheting as well as working with canvas.

Robert W. Miller, age 85, died at home Sunday, February 7, 2010, following an extended decline in health.

Born to W. Dwight and Reda Miller on September 20, 1924 in Brooklyn, New York, Bob graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School and then entered the U.S. Navy at the height of World War II. He served in the Pacific Theater as a Radarman 1st Class aboard the U.S.S. Wesson, Destroyer Escort 184, from 1943 until the end of the war. His ship participated in many Pacific battles. On April 7, 1945, the Wesson was hit by a Japanese suicide plane. Eight crew members died and the ship was heavily damaged.

Ithaca - Blanche "Birdie" A. Wells, age 88 of Ithaca, died peacefully surrounded by here family, Tuesday evening at Beechtree Nursing Home. Matriarch of the Wells family, she was born in Newfield and is the daughter of the late Wesley and Nellie Crance. For many years, she was associated with the family businesses, the Corner Store Catering and Flower Field Florist. She was a charter member of Finger Lakes Button Club and a former member of the David Harriman Button Club in Cortland. Birdie was an avid BINGO player.

Kathleen Myra Frances Blatherwick, known to her friends as "Fran", died January 10, 2010 in Ithaca, NY. She was born on November 13, 1910 in Alton in Hampshire England. She attended St Margarets Bushey and received a degree in teacher education from Bishop Otter College in Chichester. She taught at Bishop Strachan School in Toronto, Ontario, Canada where she married her first husband, Ralph Richard Sturgeon.

After his death she returned to England and lived in Cheltenham. She came to the United States in 1948 to marry Norman, "Jim", Blatherwick, former superintendant of Buttermilk Falls and Taughannock Falls State Parks. Following his retirement they lived on Anna Maria Island in Florida during the winter. Fran served as a volunteer to the Service League, Meals on Wheels and the Finger Lakes Library System into her nineties and also read to the blind. She was a life-long lover of nature and expert on wild flowers.

“Bob had been in charge of our Assigned Counsel program for over 30 years and, with the help of a great staff, had created a program recognized for the high quality of legal defense provided to those who couldn't afford an attorney,” County Administrator Joe Mareane notes. “Bob found the very difficult balance between looking out for the interests of the taxpayers and protecting the rights of the poor—and wasn't afraid to take on anyone who tried to upset that balance. We will miss him.”

Gaylord "Gary" P. Hoover, age 61 of Danby, died on Saturday January 9, 2010 at his residence while under Lourdes Hospice care. Gary was born in Ithaca, the son of the late Paul and Barbara Hoover. He was an avid camper and fisherman.

Survivors include his wife of 25 years, Christina Hoover; two daughters, Michelle Hoover and Gayla Hoover; a son, Darryl Hoover; a granddaughter, Abigail Hoover and a grandson, Aiden Hoover; several nieces and nephews.

ITHACA - Charlotte C. Gray, age 97 of Ithaca, died Friday evening at Oak Hill Manor Nursing Home in Ithaca. Mrs. Gray was born in Towanda, PA, the daughter of the late Alfred and Bessie Chapman. Mrs. Gray was married to her husband, Charles O. Gray for 63 years prior to his death on November 17, 2000. She was an accomplished seamstress and a homemaker who enjoyed caring for her family.

Survivors include her daughter, Ruth (Richard) Stanton; a grandson, Richard C. Stanton; a step-sister, Jane C. Gerould; several nieces and nephews; a sister-in-law, June Chapman. Mrs. Gray is also the sister to the late AJ Chapman and the late GR Chapman.

ITHACA - Raymond G. Foote Sr., age 72 of Ithaca, died Wednesday evening at Cayuga Medical Center, Ithaca. Ray was born in Ithaca, the son of the late Hudson and Frances Foote. For many years, Ray was a machinist for Ithaca Gun and Lansing Research. In later years before his retirement, Ray worked for Johnson's Apartments as a painter.

ITHACA - Laura Palmore Terwilliger, age 102, passed away on Wednesday, January 6, 2010, at the Oak Hill Nursing Home in Ithaca. She was born July 3, 1907, in King William County, Virginia, the daughter of the late Francis Wesley Palmore and Mary Roy "Mamie" Madison.

Laura attended a two room school house in King William County. Shortly after graduation, she traveled to Ithaca to visit some relatives. She enjoyed the area so much that she took a job on the line with Morse Chain and stayed in Ithaca for the rest of her life. She met and married Charles Terwilliger at age 18. Her husband was a pressman with the Ithaca Journal for many years, until his retirement. They lived on Tioga Street and then on the Ridge Crest Road. Upon her husband's death in 1981, she moved to Ellis Hollow Apartments and resided there beyond her 100th birthday. Poor health required her to move to Oak Hill Nursing Home where she was surrounded by caring staff for the remainder of her life.

Trumansburg - Charles Ray Knox, age 65 of Trumanburg, passed away on Sunday January 3, 2010 at Cayuga Medical Center. Charles was born on July 10, 1944 in Liberty, Miss., the son of the late Marie and T.B. Knox. Charles graduated and worked at Cornell University as a Teacher's Assistant and also worked for Lakeside Nursing Home for over 20 years. He also worked privately as a paralegal.

Newfield - David L. Austen, age 56 of Newfield, died Saturday night at Cayuga Medical Center. He enjoyed being a Ham Radio operator, fishing, and bowling.

Survivors include his loving companion, Jeannie Neeper; a son, Michael D. (Sarah Goodrich) Austen; a grandson, Devin Austen; two step-brothers and a step-sister. He is predeceased by his mother, Doris Austen.

ITHACA - Margaret R. Whelan, 93, died Thursday, December 17, 2009 at Cayuga Medical Center, five years to the day and within 15 minutes of the death of her beloved husband of over 50 years, Thomas F. Whelan.

Peggy (as she was affectionately known to family and friends) was born December 31, 1915 in Manhattan and grew up in Queens, New York. After graduating from Hunter College, she attended Jamaica Training School, and found she loved working for an export company just off Times Square. She insisted on postponing marriage until the war was over and her betrothed came home from war to stay. Thomas and Peggy married in 1946, and she devoted herself to her husband and children in Flushing, NY.

Lansing -- Linda I. Baur, age 66, passed away at her home at Ladoga Park on Tuesday, December 15, 2009.

Born January 3, 1943, on Long Island, Linda was a daughter of the late Robert Christian and Bertha May (Brown) Baur. After graduating High School, she received her RN from Saint Joseph's School of Nursing in New York City and embarked on a very rewarding career in nursing. Education was extremely important to Linda and she chose to return to school later in life to receive her Bachelor of Science in Nursing Degree. Throughout her career Linda worked in many facets of nursing, including research, pediatrics and geriatrics.

LANSING - DeWayne "Bud" Eugene Holden, age 85, passed away on Saturday, December 12, 2009, in the home he grew up in on Myers Road in Lansing, NY.

Born April 14, 1924, in Ithaca, Bud was the son of the late Oliver and Veda (Bush) Holden. He was a graduate of Lansing High School and New York Institute of Applied Sciences in the Mohawk Valley. Bud proudly served his country in the US Air Force in Burma during WWII. Always eagerly awaiting his next adventure, his love of travel took him to the far reaches of the world; Germany, Hawaii, Colorado and several months in Sri Lanka after the tsunami.

Newfield - Kenna R. Lindsey, age 28, of Newfield passed away unexpectedly on December 6, 2009. She was born in Ithaca on August 15, 1981, a daughter of Dawn Wood and Oscar Nicken. She graduated in 1999 from Newfield High School. While attending high school, she formed a great love for cheerleading. She is also a member of V.I.C.A. Kenna attended TC3 and enjoyed keeping in touch with her friends via Facebook and Myspace. Kenna's life revolved around her four children; her bright smile will be missed by all who knew her.

Slaterville Springs - Helen I. Parker, age 93 of Slaterville Springs, died peacefully at her residence on Friday morning (December 11, 2009) surrounded by her family. Helen was born in Cincinattus, the daughter of the late Frank and Mertie Albro. She was married to Herbert W. Parker prior to his death on December 12, 1974.

Helen worked for Cornell University for 27 years prior to her retirement. She loved being with her family and filling her home with sweet aromas from her cooking and baking. Helen was an avid hunter and enjoyed fishing, camping, dancing, and country music.

Lansing - Helen H. Sullivan, age 84 of Lansing, while surrounded by family, peacefully went home to be with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Thursday, December 10, 2009.

Helen is the daughter of the late Francis and Anna Hayden. She was born in Rochester, New York where she graduated from Charlotte High School, Class of 1942. Mrs. Sullivan received nursing training at Rochester General Hospital, graduating in 1946. In 1948, she graduated from Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. where she received her degree in Public Health. Soon after this, she moved to the Ithaca area where she began her career as a Public Health Nurse. She followed this profession until she married Francis E. Sullivan and began to raise a family, eventually returning as a Registered Nurse and retiring from Lakeside Nursing Home.

On Wednesday, November 18, 2009, Carl Leopold drew his last breath. Carl died in the home he shared with his loving wife and soul mate Lynn. Carl and Lynn lived in a warm and rustic home filled with music and constructed from the lumber milled from the mature white pine trees that Carl planted as saplings with his father, Aldo Leopold. On the day of his death, Carl was working on two papers—one on the phenomenon of memory in plants and another, with his sister Nina Bradley, on an update on the phenology of Sauk County, Wisconsin (see Phenological Changes Reflect Climate Change in Wisconsin, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96:9701-9704).

A memorial service will be held at the Unitarian Church of Ithaca, Sunday, December 13 at 2pm in the corner of Buffalo and Aurora Sts.

Aldo Carl Leopold was born on December 18, 1919 in Albuquerque, New Mexico where his father, Aldo Leopold, was working for the U.S. Forest Service and where his mother, Estella, had deep cultural roots. The family moved to Madison, Wisconsin in 1924. Carl was a teenager when his father acquired the famous “shack” on an abandoned farm in the banks of the Wisconsin River. There he worked with the family to convert a chicken coop into a cottage and to plant trees and native prairie plants in the famous experiment of land reclamation his father described in his “A Sand County Almanac.” Carl’s early fascination with photography provided many of the images we have of the transformation of the shack and surrounding farmland.

ITHACA – A teacher, clerk, notetaker, poet, orator, and Mother of Calvary Baptist Church, were only a few ways to describe the life of Mother Anita Reed, who during the early morning hours of Friday November 27, 2009, went to be with her Lord and Savior. Mother Reed was born on December 17, 1919 in Ithaca, the daughter of the late Archie Wilson and Pearl Johnson, she was the oldest of three children and a lifelong member of Calvary Baptist Church.

After graduating 3rd in her class from Ithaca High School, she went to Washington, DC and worked for the government during War World II. Upon returning to Ithaca, she married LeRoy S. Reed who passed away in 1992. Together they had two children, LeRoy S. (Elizabeth) Reed II and Cassandra (Alvin) Nelson. She began working at Cornell University in the History Department where she worked for almost forty years until her retirement in 1985; she was the first African American Administrative Assistant at Cornell University.

Ernestine Howell passed away on Thursday, November 26, 2009, at the age of 85. Born September 29, 1924 in Bernhard's Bay, NY, she was the daughter of the late Leon and Dorothea (Stanton) Lord. After graduating high school in Central Square, NY, she went on to Ithaca College where she graduated with a master's degree in health, physical education and recreation. It was at Ithaca College that she met her future husband, Herbert "Bud" Howell, whom she married in 1945. She and Bud enjoyed 56 years together before he passed away in 2001.

A long time Lansing resident, Ernestine was very active in the community. She taught physical education in the Lansing School District for many years. In later years she was a member of Lansing Senior Citizens, Lansingville Auxiliary, and she was a swim instructor at the YMCA with the Arthritis Program. A fan of all sports, especially NY Mets baseball, she was also an advocate for female sports teams. In the day when female sports were not thought of as a "feminine" thing to do - Ernestine thought otherwise.